12:1 Meanwhile, so many people were crowding together that they were trampling one another underfoot. He began to speak, first to his disciples, “Beware of the leaven—that is, the hypocrisy—of the Pharisees.
12:2 “There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known.
12:3 Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops.
12:4 I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body but after that can do no more.
12:5 I shall show you whom to fear. Be afraid of the one who after killing has the power to cast into Gehenna; yes, I tell you, be afraid of that one.
12:6 Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins? Yet not one of them has escaped the notice of God.
12:7 Even the hairs of your head have all been counted. Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows.
12:8 I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God.
12:9 But whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God.
12:10 “Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
12:11 When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say.
12:12 For the holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.”
12:13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.”
12:14 He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?”
12:15 Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”
12:16 Then he told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.
12:17 He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’
12:18 And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods
12:19 and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’
12:20 But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’
12:21 Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.”
12:22 He said to [his] disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life and what you will eat, or about your body and what you will wear.
12:23 For life is more than food and the body more than clothing.
12:24 Notice the ravens: they do not sow or reap; they have neither storehouse nor barn, yet God feeds them. How much more important are you than birds!
12:25 Can any of you by worrying add a moment to your life-span?
12:26 If even the smallest things are beyond your control, why are you anxious about the rest?
12:27 Notice how the flowers grow. They do not toil or spin. But I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of them.
12:28 If God so clothes the grass in the field that grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?
12:29 As for you, do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not worry anymore.
12:30 All the nations of the world seek for these things, and your Father knows that you need them.
12:31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these other things will be given you besides.
12:32 Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.
12:33 Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy.
12:34 For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.
12:36 and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.
12:37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.
12:38 And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants.
12:39 Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.
12:40 You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
12:41 Then Peter said, “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?”
12:42 And the Lord replied, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute [the] food allowance at the proper time?
12:43 Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so.
12:44 Truly, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property.
12:45 But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk,
12:46 then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful.
12:47 That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely;
12:48 and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.
12:49 “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!
12:50 There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!
12:51 Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.
12:52 From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three;
12:53 a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
12:54 He also said to the crowds, “When you see [a] cloud rising in the west you say immediately that it is going to rain—and so it does;
12:55 and when you notice that the wind is blowing from the south you say that it is going to be hot—and so it is.
12:56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
12:57 “Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?
12:58 If you are to go with your opponent before a magistrate, make an effort to settle the matter on the way; otherwise your opponent will turn you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the constable, and the constable throw you into prison.
12:59 I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.”
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